Is this the best landscape photography in the world?

Is this the best landscape photography in the world? Sony World Photography Awards 2020
(Image credit: Ronny Behnert, Germany, Category Winner, Professional, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

The Sony World Photography Awards 2020 recently announced their overall winners, of the Professional, Open, Student and Youth competitions and there is some fantastic landscape photography to be seen – especially within the specific landscape photography category. 

Ronny Behnert won the Sony World Photography Awards 2020 landscape photography category with his beautifully captured depictions of torii shrines in Japan. However, Behnert faced stiff competition from his fellow shortlisted photographers.

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Video: Ronny Behnert talks about his winning landscape

Florian Ruiz took second place for his powerful landscape photography of Lop Nor, a former salt lake in Xinjiang province in northwest China that is now largely dried-up. He said, "this barren area was used intermittently as a nuclear weapons testing site from 1964 to 1996, with as many as 45 tests carried out underground and in the atmosphere… I wanted to show the invisible danger in this desolate area…

2nd Place: Project 596 (Chinese Nuclear Landscape) by Florian Ruiz (Image credit: Florian Ruiz, France, 2nd Place, Professional, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

2nd Place: Project 596 (Chinese Nuclear Landscape) by Florian Ruiz (Image credit: Florian Ruiz, France, 2nd Place, Professional, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

"Using digital techniques, I superimposed image fragments, suggesting atoms altering and a general feeling of impermanence. These broken perspectives show the landscape twisting and changing, leading to a sort of vertigo or malaise. The work hints at the danger hidden behind the landscapes."

Chang Kyun came third in the landscape photography category with his series 'New Home'. This series focused on the Japanese internment camps that were build in the US during the Second World War. "These camps imprisoned 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry – more than 60% of them were US citizens. Working on the project reminded me of the racial antagonism we have witnessed in recent history, and led me to consider how radically our view can alter when war and terror affect our lives."

View some of the incredible landscape photography from this year's Sony World Photography competition below and check out their virtual exhibition here to see more images from different genres of the competition.

1st Place: Torii by Ronny Behnert

1st Place: Torii by Ronny Behnert (Image credit: Ronny Behnert, Germany, Category Winner, Professional, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

1st Place: Torii by Ronny Behnert (Image credit: Ronny Behnert, Germany, Category Winner, Professional, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

3rd Place: New Home by Chang Kyun Kiml (Image credit: Chang Kyun Kim, Korea (Republic of), 3rd Place, Professional, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

3rd Place: New Home by Chang Kyun Kiml (Image credit: Chang Kyun Kim, Korea (Republic of), 3rd Place, Professional, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

Commended landscape entries

(Image credit: Craig McGowan, Australia, Winner, Open, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

(Image credit: Viktor Einar Vilhelmsson, Iceland, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

(Image credit: Or Adar, Israel, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

(Image credit: Kai Hornung, Germany, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

(Image credit: Stanley Lin, Taiwan, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

(Image credit: Marco Minischetti, Italy, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

(Image credit: Hsiang Hui, Sylvester Wong, Malaysia, Shortlist, Open, Landscape, 2020 Sony World Photography Awards)

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Louise Carey

With over a decade of photographic experience, Louise arms Digital Camera World with a wealth of knowledge on photographic technique and know-how – something at which she is so adept that she's delivered workshops for the likes of ITV and Sue Ryder. Louise also brings years of experience as both a web and print journalist, having served as features editor for Practical Photography magazine and contributing photography tutorials and camera analysis to titles including Digital Camera Magazine and  Digital Photographer. Louise currently shoots with the Fujifilm X-T200 and the Nikon D800, capturing self-portraits and still life images, and is DCW's ecommerce editor, meaning that she knows good camera, lens and laptop deals when she sees them.

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